The Beatles...the greatest group?

24 Jul 2008

This is a subject that was discussed on a radio show I was listening too last week. The question was..are the Beatles the greatest group ever?
I have many groups that I would call great. Led Zeppelin,The Stones,Genesis even Queen, even Westlife could be named for all their no 1's. But are any of those the best? I know it is down to choice but what the Beatles achieved leaves them in my mind as the greatest band, even though I prefere to listen to bands like the ones above.
I also prefere the early Beatles stuff like, a hard days night, Help, the real early songs. But there are also other great songs like Penny Lane, the long and winding road, strawberry fields forever.
The thing with the Beatles is that everyone seems to have one of their songs that they love.
So are they the greatest group ever or are they overated? Do you love their music or hate it? Seeing what they did achieve and the various music modes they went through, they still remain an iconic group, but the best? cool

24 Jul 2008

(Giving away my age lol) I was just 15 when they first made the charts here and wow did they make an impression -- I got a "reel-to-reel" tape copy of their Hamburg gigs and played it to death ( yeah - file-sharing was around then too lol) Favourite track "things we said today" off the "Hard Days Night" album....

24 Jul 2008

Nope, Queen are the best group ever. biggrin

No question.
Please lock this thread now lol

24 Jul 2008

Cream did it for me. Had a chance to go to their Albert Hall farewell gig in 1968 and missed it. What a wally! Missed out on their recent AH gigs too. What a double wally !!

24 Jul 2008

Quote by Suffolk-cpl
Nope, Queen are the best group ever.
No question.
Please lock this thread now

Got to agree with you ... as far as I know they are the only group to have had a no.1 hit(as a group) written by each member of the group.
Their performance at Live Aid was mind blowing.

24 Jul 2008

Quote by niceguysdoexist
Nope, Queen are the best group ever.
No question.
Please lock this thread now

Got to agree with you ... as far as I know they are the only group to have had a no.1 hit(as a group) written by each member of the group.
Their performance at Live Aid was mind blowing.
Thirded.
Freddie has to have been the best frontman ever, too

24 Jul 2008

freddy would have been a great shag redface

24 Jul 2008

Sorry, folks. It has to be The Wurzels.
lol

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

24 Jul 2008

Quote by foxylady2209
Sorry, folks. It has to be The Wurzels.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Saw them at the w/e - fun, but not even in the same league (although they seemed convinced they were!)
I am a musician. I LOVE music. Stones, Queen, Cream, Led Zep, Floyd. All are great. But none quite have the depth, breadth and versatility of the Beatles.
Having said that, their often overlooked magic ingredient was George Martin.

24 Jul 2008

Quote by winchwench
Freddie has to have been the best frontman ever, too

What, better than Elvis? Really?
He was certainly fucking good... I can only really think of Elvis or Prince as being comparable as performers. Or Marilyn Monroe. Or Michael Jackson actually (when he was good).
I've never really loved anything by the Beatles. But I think this sort of question goes beyond personal taste. They were massively important, at several stages in their career. They did more things first than anyone else. They were able to move from writing fantastic pop songs to creating serious works of art, with equal success, a very rare feat indeed.
They made a lot of the rules that everyone else has been following ever since. They created the landscape (yes, in conjunction with some brilliant managers and producers). I'm giving them the points.
(Even though I much prefer Queen, actually...)

24 Jul 2008

To be honest I've always thought The Beatles to be vastly over-rated. Mind you I thought that way about Elvis too.
Just because lots of hormonal 60s teenagers fauned over them does not a good band make.
They had a drummer who was the epitome of all the drummer jokes (Q. What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians? A. A drummer), you've got McCartney who only seems capable of writing dittys and his bass work sucked 'nads. George Harrison didn't get his shit together until the 70s. The only decent musician of all of them was Lennon and he got the talent sucked out of him by that Japanese bitch. then when he had fuck all left some twat decided to air cool his t-shirt.
Personally I think the Shadows had more of an effect on the rock musicians of the 60s onwards. For anyone who's interested in that sort of thing, there's a great book about it called 17 Watts? 20 years of Rock & Roll guitar by Mo Foster.
As SteveClarke has already mentioned, without George Martin (and the staff at Abbey Road) they would have just been a group of greasy-haired Scouse rockers.

25 Jul 2008

Music is a great people 'divider' and I know people who hate the Beatles and some who love them. I think they were great song writers which gave them a head start over most bands who often run out steam.

25 Jul 2008

Quote by SteveClarke
Sorry, folks. It has to be The Wurzels.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Saw them at the w/e - fun, but not even in the same league (although they seemed convinced they were!)
I am a musician. I LOVE music. Stones, Queen, Cream, Led Zep, Floyd. All are great. But none quite have the depth, breadth and versatility of the Beatles.
Having said that, their often overlooked magic ingredient was George Martin.
Have to say there is clear evidence there. My most fav band of all is Led Zep. They have sold more albums than I think any other band have. Over 350 million albums. Never a single made and still today are probably the biggest rock band ever. You only have to see the interest in their recent concert at the O2. 23 million hits on that website in 24 hours for tickets.
The Beatles however went through transitional stages in their music, and were huge throughout. As songwriters they surely have to be the best with maybe just maybe the exception being rodgers and hammerstein.
They were the first British band to crack America which is no mean feat even today. Great British bands have tried and failed big time on that score.
Whilst Led Zep in my mind are the best band ever I have to say the Beatles were and still are the most iconic band to ever have come from these shores. Lennon and Mcartney will forever be remembered in the anals of music history, and their music is as good today to listen to as it was in the late 60's, that is pure class.

25 Jul 2008

Quote by kentswingers777
Sorry, folks. It has to be The Wurzels.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Saw them at the w/e - fun, but not even in the same league (although they seemed convinced they were!)
I am a musician. I LOVE music. Stones, Queen, Cream, Led Zep, Floyd. All are great. But none quite have the depth, breadth and versatility of the Beatles.
Having said that, their often overlooked magic ingredient was George Martin.
Have to say there is clear evidence there. My most fav band of all is Led Zep. They have sold more albums than I think any other band have. Over 350 million albums. Never a single made and still today are probably the biggest rock band ever. You only have to see the interest in their recent concert at the O2. 23 million hits on that website in 24 hours for tickets.
The Beatles however went through transitional stages in their music, and were huge throughout. As songwriters they surely have to be the best with maybe just maybe the exception being rodgers and hammerstein.
They were the first British band to crack America which is no mean feat even today. Great British bands have tried and failed big time on that score.
Whilst Led Zep in my mind are the best band ever I have to say the Beatles were and still are the most iconic band to ever have come from these shores. Lennon and Mcartney will forever be remembered in the anals of music history, and their music is as good today to listen to as it was in the late 60's, that is pure class.
You're probably right about the Beatles but I've never really liked them, apart from their Sargeant Pepper period. However I agree with your choice of Led Zeppelin, although I'd include The Who as well. They totally blew everyone away at LIve 8.